Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Southern Communities Rebound From Racial Barriers

USCIS 100:84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

This week, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington (August 28, 1963). Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial equality and freedom. The march is widely credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965).

Racial violence and discrimination caused a mass exodus of African Americans from the southern United States to communities in the North during the 1960's. Now more blacks live in the South than anywhere else in the nation. Affordable housing and jobs attracted them back to this region where Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of racial equality is being realized. VOA's Chris Simkins introduces us to what's being described as the New South.